HOME SWEET DOUBLE WIDE HOME
Before Cindy Armstrong got off of the bus she knew she
didn’t like Your Town. She only made the six-hour trip because her mother and her latest boyfriend were going to spend a week in Las Vegas. This 14 year girl had no other option but to spend the next seven days with her aunt, uncle, and two cousins in Your Town.
She had never been to Your Town and had only met her mother’s sister’s family at Grandma’s funeral. They were all at the bus station to greet her. Cindy had her sunglasses pushed about two inches above her forehead and the white ear buds on her MP3 player were still stuck securely in her ears.
Cousin Clara Osgood, also 14, was the first to hug the artificially blonde relative from the big city. Others followed Clara’s lead and warm words of greeting seemed to be coming from the entire Osgood family all at the same time. Clara’s father, Bill, and her brother, Claude, each took one of her two new suitcases and carried them to the rear of the Osgood’s ten-year old green car. The luggage was placed in the trunk and Clara, Cindy, and Bill were squeezed together in the back seat. Bill and wife Mary sat in the front and each wondered silently how they were going to make it through the coming week with a niece who had already established a record of running away from home and shoplifting.
Cindy spoke little and only acknowledged the questions from Bill and Clara with short answers. The ride to the Osgood’s home was through the main part of Your Town and Cindy sized up the place as a dead, no-fun, not cool location. She saw individuals stopping each other to chat or just show off the newest grandchild. Some people could be seen with their heads poked inside parked cars and laughing with the folks inside. All of this only confirmed Cindy’s evaluation of Your Town as “Hicksville.”
She almost gasped out loud as Uncle Bill turned into a trailer park and wound his way back to the Osgood’s double-wide trailer. The Osgoods lovingly referred to the double-wide as their “Home Sweet Double-Wide Home.” Cindy wondered how anyone could live in such a place. She could not believe anyone could ever be happy living in a place where speed bumps seemed to appear every 25 feet and where mailboxes were in fact placed side-by-side for twenty five feet. This was going to be dull and boring week for Cindy; at least that was her first impression.
After unpacking and accepting the idea of sleeping double with Clara in her bed, she asked Clara, “Where can we meet some boys? I have half a pack of cigs left and I‘m wanting to walk around some after that long bus ride”.
Clara responded to Cindy’s comments in reverse order. “I’ll be happy to walk around with you and I have never smoked. Most of the boys I meet are at school or in our church youth group. Since school is out that kind of narrows down the choices.” Cindy thought she must be in a time machine that has carried her back to the 1950’s TV shows that only showed simple, naïve, and obedient children and always available Moms and Dads.
Clara excused herself to go help her mother get supper ready. Cindy sat on the bed and looked at the walls that contained no rock stars or movie posters; instead she saw Bible verses and a list with lots of names on it. She peeked inside Clara’s closet and could not find any suggestive or revealing clothing. Just modest clean clothes neatly placed on colorful hangers.
At supper Uncle Bill thanked God for their food and for Cindy’s safe arrival. Then he prayed something that got Cindy’s attention when he said, “Dear Lord, may Cindy find true happiness here.”
As Cindy picked at the supper of beans, ham, and cornbread she could not get the closing words of Uncle Bill’s prayer out of her mind. True happiness, she thought to herself, doesn’t really exist, you have to make your own happiness.
That night the two girls talked about girl things and laughed a lot. Suddenly, Cindy became very quiet and said to Clara, “Does your Mom and Dad really love you?” Clara could not remember anyone asking her that question before. “They sure do,” replied Clara. Some additional light teenage chatter followed and the two cousins drifted off to sleep.
On the second day Cindy told Clara that she felt unloved by her never-at-home Mom and her absentee Dad. That night as they talked Cindy asked Clara, “Why is my name on the long list on the wall?” Clara replied, “Oh, that’s my prayer list and I want you to find happiness like I have.”
Clara started to wonder if all this talk about happiness was genuine or just some gimmick to make her feel guilty for some of the bad things she had done. Whatever the reason she knew she was happy because she had everything any teenage girl could want and it was none of anyone’s business about her mistakes and bad choices.
It was Wednesday night when she accompanied Clara and her family to mid-week church services that caused her to wonder if she was really happy. People there didn’t talk about things or entertainment celebrities. The talked about their relationship to Jesus Christ and prayed for people in the church and those outside the church. They all seemed very happy. Cindy wondered what made them so happy.
After returning home, Cindy and Clara spent most of night talking about real happiness. Cindy knew deep down Clara had something she didn’t have. Clara shared how she came to be a Christian and how Cindy could become one also.
The next three days produced many more of these very serious and vitally important conversations between Cindy and Clara. Sunday morning the family again went to church where Clara heard a message about Sin, Death and Hope that must have been prepared just for her. As the invitation was about to conclude, Cindy gripped Clara’s hand so tight Clara thought her hand would break. Cindy said to her cousin, “Will you go with me to the front?” Through her tears Clara softly said, “Yes.” In a few moments Cindy and Clara where at the front where Cindy said “Yes” to Jesus Christ. Tears and hugs abounded.
For the first time in her life Cindy was happy, really happy. Sunday dinner was a joyous time of sharing mixed with eating and crying by everyone. Cindy began to feel sad when she remembered her mother promised to call her Sunday afternoon to confirm her return from Las Vegas. About three o’clock the phone rang and it was Cindy’s mom who shocked her by saying she and her boyfriend had decided to tour the West Coast and wondered if Cindy would ask Mary if she might stay for a couple of more weeks. Mary and Bill looked at each other when Cindy asked them the question and they simultaneously said: ”Yes!” Cindy started talking very fast and told her mother about her life-changing decision and for the first time in her life she was happy, very happy.
It was obvious by her closing comments that Cindy’s mom asked about the home her aunt and uncle lived in. Cindy said with all of the enthusiasm a new Christian could muster, “Mom, it’s a ‘Home Sweet Double-Wide Home !”
Glenn C. Peck, Pastor, FBC, St. Louis, OK
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